Adamawa govt makes fresh moves as youth gangsterism, insecurity heightens

The Adamawa State Government has started fresh moves against young men called Shila Boys in local parlance who are involved in gangsterism.

The gangsters, mostly in their teens, frequently steal phones and similar light items from residents using knives as weapons.

Reacting to the rising cases of Shila Boys attacks, the state Deputy Governor, Professor Kaletapwa Farauta, said Tuesday that part of the new approach is an appeal to all youths in anti-social acts to change their ways and for parents to help in that light.

Farauta, who addressed newsmen on behalf of Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, said the government decided to interface with the media to send a message to youths to redirect their energies to pursuits that yield wholesome benefits.

“We also urge parents to take care that our children get to be in the right places doing the right things,” she said.

Farauta was silent on certain radical measures that she said the government is taking in the immediate term to curtail the attacks by Shila Boys, insisting that such measures are security issues that are better not disclosed.

She assured that the Fintiri government which succeeded in taming the Shila Boys when the government began in 2019, will once again rise to the occasion as the boys resurge.

DAILY POST reports that Shila Boys have grown recently into a major headache for residents of the three municipal local government areas of Yola North, Yola South and Girei, as evident in stories about arrests by the Police almost daily.

The boys have proved undeterred by the arrests and are frequently harassing residents, stealing their valuables at knife-point, at night times and in broad daylight.